"Kindertransport” by Diane Samuels, the play being staged this autumn by The Algarveans Experimental Theatre Group, is one of the most-performed plays in the last 10 years around the world. This well-written play is also one chosen for A Level drama students to study.

Just before the outbreak of the Second World War, Britain took in over 10,000, mostly Jewish, refugee children from Europe. The rescue effort was known as Kindertransport. Separated from their families and fostered out to British homes, most of the children never saw their parents again.

Diane Samuels’ extraordinary play is about this emergency immigration and its effect on generations over time. Based on real accounts with a distinctly female perspective, centring on the experience of one child, Eva, Kindertransport tells a powerful story of survival.

It begins in 1938 when nine-year-old Eva is helped to pack her case by her mother Helga in Hamburg. Nearly 50 years later, Faith (Evelyn’s daughter) discovers a box of papers and photos in her mother’s attic and wants to know the truth about who Eva really is.

Diane Samuels’ play traces the way memories, both those remembered and forgotten, deeply affect the present. As such, Kindertransport is a story that transcends time and remains particularly relevant today.

Aside from its political and historical context, at its core, the play is centred on a universal human experience, the inevitable separation between a child and parent.

“The first time I saw the show, my wife and I could not stop talking about it for days afterwards. We even took our daughter and her drama A Level class to see it. Following this, the class decided to perform it as their exam piece,” said Kindertransport director Chris Winstanley. “We are hoping to show some archive footage of the children of the Kindertransport as part of the pre-show experience.”

Kindertransport will be performed at Lagoa Auditorium from November 23 to 25, starting at 7.45pm.